Celebration

Today I was invited to attend the 25th anniversary of an organization in Uganda. I went and enjoyed the celebration full of speeches from the most honored, choir songs, and of course- a feast of Ugandan food. Ironically enough, it was my first time eating Ugandan in Uganda. Waves of memories from Kenya mixed with my school group’s outings to the local Ugandan restaurant in Boston came flooding back. This was a huge celebration, in a wonderful location. The view from this compound was stunning, with a wonderful view of lake Victoria and its islands. I wish I had taken a picture!

After sitting through the program, eating lunch, talking with a few individuals, we decided instead of taking a boda back to the main road, that we would walk. We joined up with a few women from the celebration who lived close by. One woman, full of joy, linked arms with me as we walked down the road. Her presence was full of life, her smile was large, and her eyes danced! I was completely in awe of her ability to pull me out of a potentially embarrassing situation with her mother and whisk me down the street. Not five minutes later, she stopped and showed me her home and we parted. About halfway through our walk, the rain decided to pour! Huge, thick drops fell from the sky. Thankfully, a group of women in a long row of homes called us over to their front porch so that we could stay dry. Without their help, we would have been soaking wet within a few minutes. One invited us into her house, where we chatted about various topics: the weather, family, where we live, etc. The home was nice, with a few chairs, and a partition between the back half (bedroom) and the front room. Her friend rushed in a few minutes later when she heard that mzungus (white people) had stopped. This girl, probably about my age, had a laugh that was contagious! We stayed until the rain let up and continued on our way.

Rainy season is upon us, which has allowed me to think a lot about rain. When it rains, everything stops. No work is done because it comes down so quickly. I see this beautiful, clean water fall from the sky into the fields and roads. Hardly anyone catches the rain that I have seen. Access to clean water is a problem here, and yet a lot of it falls on a daily basis. How can people capture the rain to make use of it? I know there are models out there, but is there a way to train individuals to do it themselves? Perhaps another project, another organization, and a different dream…

posted by Emily (Fount of Mercy volunteer living and working in Uganda for 6 months)